Artemis Arrows

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So I'm just starting the game and I've been plowing through side quests and I'm just starting Day 4. Have questions on garbs.

At the moment I'm trying to do the "Physical garb, magic garb and debuff garb." thing that folks suggest. Physical is Nocturne which is the only one I have with Attack+2, L’ange Noir is my magic garb for Thunder Lvl 2 and for a lack of better options and I made a point to hit the Dead Dunes for Passion Rouge so I could get Lvl2 Deshell and Deprotect. Any tips on where to go with these would be nice since I'm just flying by my pants at the moment.

So I read all about how Artemis Arrows rock so I put the Wildlands missions on priority...after much struggles and needing all my potions for the miniboss, I got the Soldier of Peace garb right at the end of Day 3. Sadly, I didn't know I needed Heavy Slash for it (don't have it yet) but I was dismayed at the lack of ATB. I assume this thing is just a utility outfit rather than something you use regularly?...Like just for tough bosses or something? It's nice to have but, if that's the case, I'm not sure why the guides implied I should get it quickly.

On the bright side, I got Reavers to drop two their sweet Shard Swords so it wasn't a total loss.

Personally, I don't use Artemis Arrow (and I 5 starred every boss on every difficulty), nor do I recommend it for a first playthrough (the guide recommend it because they assume the player would know what to do, for some reason).

I don't like that it has a random damage modifier to it, and, as you've noticed, AA is very ATB hungry (and the garb starts with bugger all), so yes, definitely not something to be used for every monster, just bosses, if you want to use it (you'll also need something that can easily refill ATB). It's also probably best to keep it for NG+ (or at least after a couple bosses), where you'll have more ATB to use.

If you need Heavy Slash, hunt Anubys (either between 1600-1800 anywhere in the world or anytime in Yusnaan's palace). One of the garb from the hunter village in the Wildlands also has Heavy Slash by default, although that's useless for Artemis Arrow.

Don't worry; your manhood will be safe even if one of the PCs in the next game wears pink. Get over it. - EvenSpoonier

The guide may recommend using it, but honestly, Artemis Arrow's isn't an all-purpose powerful attack. It has it's definite uses, sure, but using it on every monster is overkill (especially if you hadn't staggered them)

^The main purpose most people use it for, is the heavy-damage needed to kill Aeronite (a Day 7+ bonus boss who's part of a late quest), who has a time limit in-battle before he flees. If you can manage to weather his attacks with a magic-nullifying garb - most of them are magic - and/or with healing items, and stagger him with magic 4 times (yes 4), then using Artemis Arrows with your strongest physical weapon/highest lvl Heavy Slash will deal some major hurt, especially with Overclock after you run out of ATB

If I post about something, it's because I ultimately like it - flaws tend not to personally matter after initial acceptance, if still acknowledged in general.

The main purpose most people use it for, is the heavy-damage needed to kill Aeronite (a Day 7+ bonus boss who's part of a late quest), who has a time limit in-battle before he flees. If you can manage to weather his attacks with a magic-nullifying garb - most of them are magic - and/or with healing items, and stagger him with magic 4 times (yes 4), then using Artemis Arrows with your strongest physical weapon/highest lvl Heavy Slash will deal some major hurt, especially with Overclock after you run out of ATB

Meh, I prefer Magic Slash for Aeronite.

Don't worry; your manhood will be safe even if one of the PCs in the next game wears pink. Get over it. - EvenSpoonier

^The main purpose most people use it for, is the heavy-damage needed to kill Aeronite (a Day 7+ bonus boss who's part of a late quest), who has a time limit in-battle before he flees.

Okay, I see. Thanks for the responses, guys. I guess it's more on me since I figured I would need to get Artemis Arrows early on but the guide didn't really say that. Just looks like a broken method to pile up damage on staggers. Either way, I'll worry about Aeronite in NG+ since I'll need to play that for trophies anyway.

Just finished Snow's chapter last night...it's been a real fun go. A little too much deux-ex-machina stuff with the plot where Yuel just happens to appear before Noel and then Lightning just happens to restore Snow from a Cieth but, whatever, I didn't get it for plot.

I'm pretty hooked by the slew of quests and I found a nice guide that has all the times listed for the quests so I can gameplan my day. At the moment, I'm pretty generic with my garbs. Just Nocturne for physical attacks (only way I can get Attack Lvl 2 right now), Midnight Mauve for magic (same with Fire Lvl 3) and Passion Rouge for Deshell and Deprotect. Haven't seen much else that makes me want to switch from those.

^The main purpose most people use it for, is the heavy-damage needed to kill Aeronite (a Day 7+ bonus boss who's part of a late quest), who has a time limit in-battle before he flees.

Okay, I see. Thanks for the responses, guys. I guess it's more on me since I figured I would need to get Artemis Arrows early on but the guide didn't really say that. Just looks like a broken method to pile up damage on staggers. Either way, I'll worry about Aeronite in NG+ since I'll need to play that for trophies anyway.

Just finished Snow's chapter last night...it's been a real fun go. A little too much deux-ex-machina stuff with the plot where Yuel just happens to appear before Noel and then Lightning just happens to restore Snow from a Cieth but, whatever, I didn't get it for plot.

I'm pretty hooked by the slew of quests and I found a nice guide that has all the times listed for the quests so I can gameplan my day. At the moment, I'm pretty generic with my garbs. Just Nocturne for physical attacks (only way I can get Attack Lvl 2 right now), Midnight Mauve for magic (same with Fire Lvl 3) and Passion Rouge for Deshell and Deprotect. Haven't seen much else that makes me want to switch from those.

Heh, well at least in this case, all the seemingly-impossible stuff happens for a reason/is part of a pattern rather than just to resolve the plot(s).

And anyway, keep an eye on the shops - as the Days go on, many will gradually upgrade their stocks. Day 8 in particular has quite a few new Garbs available, among them one with lvl 3 Attack, which I used myself quite a lot on a first playthrough (though, I was the type who didn't use debuffs at all XD)

If I post about something, it's because I ultimately like it - flaws tend not to personally matter after initial acceptance, if still acknowledged in general.

One nice piece of advice I got was to hit the Dead Dunes ASAP and get that deprotect/deshell costume. Was a good idea as I use those two spells at the start of almost every battle.

I certainly get that approach, but for me personally, I wanted a combination that could hit every opponent without fail- hence, I focused purely on mastering stagger/damage, with a main-physical/magic/secondary-physical type build :) As useful as debuffs are, some enemies are immune to one-or-both of those two, while others are immune to, well other debuffs (a rare few are even immune to all debuffs, even)

Oh and P.S, clicking 'quote' on my post will add it to the beginning of your next message; you don't need to manually type it out as you've been doing

If I post about something, it's because I ultimately like it - flaws tend not to personally matter after initial acceptance, if still acknowledged in general.

As useful as debuffs are, some enemies are immune to one-or-both of those two, while others are immune to, well other debuffs

I've used DeProtect/DeShell on almost every enemy I've encountered and almost none of them are immune to it. Only one I remember is Earth Eater and that's only until his first stagger and you can put it on him after that.

Oh and P.S, clicking 'quote' on my post will add it to the beginning of your next message; you don't need to manually type it out as you've been doing

I'm copy/pasting it. I find using the html for italics is quicker. Plus I'm just used to it.

So, more questions. I'm in the end of Day 7 and I've basically done everything. All main quests and all sidequests but the "kill all Last Ones" and "kill Aeronite" quests are done. Have almost all the Prayer quests done but I might get more of those as I advance the Days forward.

All that's left is running around to make enemies extinct which I'd like to get over with. Only problem is I see a lot of folks mentioning that, in the later days, they drop some nice upgraded abilities. Are these really necessary? You really need to upgrade all these spells or they'll suck?

Plus I find I don't even like the -aga version of the spells. I had them for a while but switched back to -ara ones for stuff like Aerora and Blizzara (I have Firespark for fire/thunder spells) since they seem to land more hits and stagger better. Is all this ability-grinding really necessary for the two optional bosses or is this just folks being obsessed with min/maxing like many folks are on these boards?

Also, is it possible to beat the Ultimate Dungeon on Normal on NG? I'm on pace to extinct every enemy so I'll basically waltz in there, beat the Neoketon and then move onto the last boss. But if I can't even beat him on NG without extra stat boosts, it may not be worth extincting everyone. I'm hoping I have at least as many perks and accessories to use a cheap Artemis Arrow strategy but I'm not sure.

Also, I only have one Ether from a random loot that the Dead Dunes kid appraised for me. There's no way to use the online component to buy them so where else to get any?

Yeah I get that much; it was just a matter of preference for me to find an works-against-all-enemies-all-the-time build. Still, when you do face an enemy who's immune to all debuffs - and you will near the end, even if he might initially be affected - be prepared to handle staggering.

As for the Abilities, yeah, enemies do drop better abilities based on the Day they drop them (as I'm sure you've noticed): Lvl 1 for Days 1-6, Lvl 2 for 7-9, and Lvl 3 for 10-12. And it's not really that they'll suck if you don't, so much as that you'd be missing out on the extra damage, and thus the less-than-easy fights will take longer/you could take more damage - if you want, you could make a save during your current point, play things out and see how they go first. Just be glad you don't have to make a perfect maxed-out-cost-effective Ability, via upgrading Lvl 1 to 2 to 3 (and above on non-Easy/Normal mode) through the shop - that's definite min-maxing :P

And you can beat the Ultimate Dungeon with that much time left; just make sure to save before you fight the boss, in case you need to adjust anything. Artemis Arrows may help you after you've staggered it three times, but this boss does have powerful attacks and such like Aeronite, so be careful... also there's something else to note: he's not immune to poison ;)

Ethers? Well you get one each from 4 specific Canvas of Prayer quests (Trapped, Ultimate Craving, What's in a Brew?, and Desert Cleanup), one at 10 Unappraised Items from the Dead Dunes kid, and one at 60 Soul Seeds given to the collectors. If you can give 50 Unappraised Items to the kid, he'll give you a Turbo Ether as well, which is a one-per-playthrough thing much like the Elixir

Oh and on a side note, the 'Kill All Last Ones' quest? Can only be completed on NG+, because there's three remaining Last Ones in the Final Day dungeon, and once there you can't go back to (any) quest giver

If I post about something, it's because I ultimately like it - flaws tend not to personally matter after initial acceptance, if still acknowledged in general.